Lights begin to glow across U.S.

Sunday

Nov 29, 2009 at 12:01 AM

This season's Christmas tree displays include trees made from feathers at a historic home in Indianapolis, a thank-you tree in Boston sent from Nova Scotia, and the Obamas' first National Christmas Tree ceremony in Washington.

BETH J. HARPAZ

This season's Christmas tree displays include trees made from feathers at a historic home in Indianapolis, a thank-you tree in Boston sent from Nova Scotia, and the Obamas' first National Christmas Tree ceremony in Washington.

The National Christmas Tree is scheduled to be lit Thursday. Details of this year's ceremony have not been released yet, but traditionally the president and his family preside. Tickets have already been distributed by lottery to nearly 10,000 people for the lighting, but the tree stays lit through Jan. 1 with free performances nightly. The tree is located less than a block from the White House.

Also in Washington, the Capitol Christmas Tree goes on display on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol near Constitution and Independence avenues. The tree comes from a different state every year, and this year an 85-foot blue spruce from Arizona's Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest becomes the first tree from that state to fill the role. The tree is scheduled to be lit Dec. 8 by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

In Indianapolis, the President Benjamin Harrison Home hosts a Victorian-themed Christmas through Dec. 30. Decorations at the 1875 Italianate home will include a half-dozen feather trees, based on a German tradition popular in that era. The trees are made from white and dyed-green goose feathers wrapped around wires and shaped like small trees, according to curator Jennifer Capps.

The home will also have a replica of the tree the Harrisons had in the White House in 1889. "They were the first family to have a decorated Christmas tree in the White House," she said.

In Boston, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree every year as thanks for disaster aid from Massachusetts following the Halifax Explosion in 1917. This year's tree will be lit on the Boston Common Thursday.

The Rockefeller Center tree, a 76-foot Norway spruce, will be decorated with 30,000 lights and lit Tuesday. You can see it any time until Jan. 7. The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up in 1931 by workers building the complex during the Depression, and the first official tree lighting there was in 1933.

A fir tree from Northern California decorated with more than 10,000 lights and 15,000 ornaments is glowing cheerfully at The Grove in Los Angeles through the first of the year. An enormous Santa and sleigh, designed to look like Santa's sailing through the night sky with the tree behind him, are part of the decorations.

In Houston, the 24th annual Uptown Holiday Lighting includes a half-million lights on 80 trees along Post Oak Boulevard. Also in Houston, the Downtown Holiday Spectacular kicked off Thanksgiving Day.

Honolulu City Lights, which includes a tree, wreath displays and gingerbread houses, kicks off Saturday and lasts a month. Opening night festivities typically draw 75,000 people. Later in the month, on Dec. 13, the 24,000 runners taking part in the Honolulu Marathon will run right past the Christmas display at Honolulu Hale, which is the name of the City Hall there.

Christmas at Biltmore, in Asheville, N.C., is a tradition that goes back to Christmas Eve 1895. That's when its owner, George Vanderbilt, officially opened the massive home to friends and family. This season's holiday display at the estate, which is a National Historic Landmark, features dozens of decorated trees and runs through Jan. 3.

In Riverside, Calif., The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa offers its annual Festival of Lights through Jan. 3, with 3.5 million lights, carriage rides and Santa visits. The elaborate lighting display has turned the inn into a must-see attraction for the holidays in Southern California.

Arkansas showcases a trail of holiday lights around the state in six regions and dozens of communities, with details at http://www.arkansas.com/things-to-do/trail-of-lights/. But Arkansas' most famous lighting display is now in Florida, at Disney's Hollywood Studios. A lawsuit forced Jennings Osborne to stop putting up his massive home lighting display in Little Rock in 1994, but Disney brought the display to Disney World, where visitors can see it lit up every night through Jan. 4, from dusk to when the park closes.

Springfield, Mass., hosts the drive-through Bright Nights in Forest Park Wednesday through Sunday through Dec. 6, and nightly Dec. 9 through Jan. 2, with colorful light displays depicting a Victorian village, Peter Pan, Noah's Ark, and an American flag among other things.

The Oglebay Resort & Conference Center in Wheeling, W.Va., hosts the Winter Festival of Lights, through Jan. 3. Oglebay says it is one of the nation's largest such attractions, covering more than 300 acres on a six-mile drive. Favorite displays from past years include the Snowflake Tunnel, a candy cane wreath, and a poinsettia wreath and candle.

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